Bacon's Rebellion

  • Great Judges Can’t Fix Bad Energy Laws

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    Former SCC Commissioner Mark Christie communicated his enthusiasm for Kelsey Bagot’s election with this photo on X.

    By Steve Haner

    The General Assembly has now filled the two open seats at the State Corporation Commission (SCC), ending two years of gridlock.  Unfortunately, the same legislators, on both sides of the aisle, are still working overtime to dictate and micromanage the state’s energy policy, reducing the discretion and authority of the independent, non-partisan regulators. 

    Samuel T. Towell, elected to the SCC last week, fits the expected mold for such positions.  His legal career has been inside and outside the Virginia government, with his term as the civil litigation deputy under Attorney General Mark Herring (D) as the highlight of his resume.  In that role he supervised the consumer counsel functions under Herring, participating in SCC matters.  Since then, he has been working for Smithfield Foods.  

    Breaking the mold is Kelsey Bagot, only a decade out of Harvard Law and with no real Virginia-specific experience.  She spent much of her career so far at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), working part of that time for former SCC Chairman Mark Christie.  Christie’s expressed enthusiasm for her qualifications makes her about as close to a bipartisan choice as was possible.   

    They join current Commissioner Jehmal Hudson, also a veteran of FERC, who has been serving by himself for more than a year.  Towell and Hudson, less than 20 years out of law school, and the younger Bagot form a trio that could be in office together for decades.  That had to be on the minds of the legislators (all Democrats) who made these choices.   

    Fully qualified and engaged judges are still bound to follow the law.  Virginia’s headlong rush into an economically foolish war on fossil fuels is being directed by the bills flowing from the General Assembly, not by rogue judges.  If the last two sessions controlled by Democrats, 2020 and 2021, were a two-alarm EV battery fire, the 2024 session could be the equivalent of the Maui apocalypse.    (more…)

  • Didn’t We Settle This Divisive Concept Long Ago?

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    John C. Calhoun (National Portrait Gallery)

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Governor Glenn Youngkin has signed on to a constitutional position that Virginia and other Southern states used to justify secession from the United States over 170 years ago.

    Here, in a nutshell, are the events that led to this situation:

    • Greg Abbott ordered razor wire placed in the Rio Grande River to deter immigrants from crossing;
    • U.S. Border Patrol agents tried to remove the wire but were prevented from doing so by the Texas State Patrol and the Texas National Guard;
    • The United States sued;
    • A lower court ordered the Border Patrol not to attempt to remove the razor wire;
    • In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the lower court order. There were no written opinions accompanying the decision;
    • Despite the Supreme Court decision, Gov. Abbot still refuses to allow the Border Patrol access to certain crossing points, thereby denying that federal authority supersedes the state;
    • Almost all the Republican governors issued a statement saying that because the federal government “has abdicated its constitutional compact duties to the states,” Texas has the right to exert control over the international border in order to defend itself;
    • Governor Glenn Youngkin was one of the signatories.

    Shades of John C. Calhoun! This compact theory and nullification were put to rest at Appomattox in 1865.

    If, as Gov. Youngkin believes, a governor can defy the Supreme Court regarding immigration, what is to stop a future Democratic Virginia governor and legislature from ignoring Supreme Court rulings and enacting strict gun control measures on the grounds that the national government has broken its compact to ensure public safety?

    For more analysis and commentary on this development see here and here. For a more measured analysis, see here.

  • Jeanine’s Memes

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    From The Bull Elephant

  • Bacon Meme of the Week

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

  • From Sanctuary to Stooge

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    Mayor Levar Stoney

    by Jon Baliles

    Most of us have tried hard to block out Mayor Stoney’s July 4th fiasco, when his then-police chief tried hard to impress the boss and concocted a fake foiled mass shooting plot at Dogwood Dell on July 4, 2022. The Mayor denied he ever knew about it. The chief said he knew about it beforehand but claims to have never told the mayor or any of the officers working the event in a public park that annually draws thousands of people. Within days the story fell apart and it was revealed in court a few weeks later that there was no — as in zero — evidence that there ever was a planned mass shooting.

    You might not also recall back in 2017 when the newly installed Mayor Stoney unofficially declared Richmond a sanctuary city and would protect people that might be in this country illegally from the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He said, according to CBS6, “We need to protect our children and our families so they can learn and prosper. That means protecting all of our residents… and protecting them regardless of whether they have legal status in our country.”

    The reason that these things are related is that the man falsely accused of plotting a mass shooting is wishing he had never come to Richmond or heard of Levar Stoney. If Stoney actually meant what he said that day in 2017 about protecting immigrants, then Julio Alvarado Dubon never would have been falsely accused of a mass shooting or spent the last 17 months in jail, and is now facing deportation back to Guatemala. (more…)

  • Email Your Delegate: Kill the Unconstitutional Affirmative Action Bill

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner


    by Jock Yellott

    As a follow-up to “US Constitution Calling Jason Miyares,” published here January 15, 2024: the Virginia Legislature now is considering a bill, HR 1404, mandating “Disadvantaged Business Enterprise” affirmative action in all state government contracting.  It’s before the House Committee on Rules.

    H.R. 1404 presumes people are “disadvantaged” based on their origins; their group identity.  Which the US Supreme Court declared unconstitutional 30 years ago in the Adarand Constructors case.  And the Supreme Court confirmed its unconstitutionality last June in Students for Fair Admissions. The bill mirrors the federal Small Business Administration list of groups presumed disadvantaged, always and everywhere, that a federal district court declared unconstitutional last July (the Biden administration’s SBA is now trying to wiggle out from under that ruling).

    You can do something: write a delegate on the House Rules Committee.  Click on the names below:

    Scott, D.L(Chair),Watts, Ward, Sickles, Herring, Carr, Torian, Simon, Hayes, Sullivan, Tran,  Kilgore, Austin, Webert, O’Quinn, Batten

    They have a lot to read; no need to write an essay. Just say the affirmative action in H.R. 1404 is unconstitutional on its face.  Kill it in committee. (more…)

  • Right to Life March Falls on Deaf Ears as Dobbs Makes Abortion Issue More Difficult for Republicans

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Ken Reid

    The 50th annual pro-life march took place in DC January 19; it has been held every year since 1974, the year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade, that women had a constitutional protection for abortion, and thus negated 50 state laws regulating the procedure.

    It was cold and snowing, but thousands of committee pro-lifers showed up; could have been 100,000. I was not there, but the media coverage was quite limited.

    You would think the pro-life movement won with the June 2022 “Dobbs” Decision, which overturned Roe and put the regulation of abortion back to each state. But alas and alack, that is not the case.

    Abortion, as I wrote after “Dobbs,” still continues but is down in numbers since 1991 due to the advent of better ultrasound, home pregnancy tests and public education about unwanted pregnancies. There are no back-alley coat-hanger abortions, as the histrionic pro-abortion forces predicted, and if anything, prolife forces seeking six-week bans and the like are being flustered by the political process.  

    The abortion drug, Mifeprex, was approved in 2000 and now comprises a majority of all abortions in the U.S. – only for use up to 10 weeks of pregnancy. A pending Supreme Court case may determine if the drug stays on the market or will be subject to state review  – thus negating the Constitution’s “commerce clause” and federal pre-emption, and creating more havoc in this nation. 

    I don’t expect that to happen. Some 626,000 abortions occurred in 2021, the most recent year the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has numbers 

    Anti- abortion groups continue to press their cases with state legislatures for. restrictions and some want a national ban by Congress, which is counter to “Dobbs” and has no chance of passage. (more…)

  • What Do You Do If There Are No Statues Left to Tear Down?

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Can of worms

    Step #1: Reinterpret the Confederate statues;

    Step #2: Remove the Confederate statues from the public square;

    Step #3: Prevent those who want the statues from having them. Decapitate the statues, melt them down, or desecrate them in art and museum displays.

    What’s left? Where else is there to go?

    Step #4: Take away tax-exempt status from a prominent organization dedicated to preserving the statues.

    SB517 and HB 568 would eliminate the exemption from state recordation taxes for the Virginia Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) as well as the tax exemption for real and personal property owned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The House Bill passed the House Finance Committee in a 12 to 10 (presumably party-line) vote. (more…)

  • Library Woes in Botetourt County

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    For more than one year, a controversy has been growing in Botetourt County regarding explicit materials in or near the libraries’ children’s areas. On one side is a grassroots community organization, Botetourt Residents Against Child Exploitation (BRACE), seeking removal of some materials. On the other side one finds the Botetourt County Supervisors, administration, and library leadership opposing such removals.

    When researching for this story, The Roanoke Star asked BRACE for a timeline of key events in the controversy. That Dec. 19, 2023 timeline from group leader Charles Ruhl is given below. A news story including comments from two County officials is upcoming.

    –Scott Dreyer, The Roanoke Star

    BRACE was founded by Christine Liana in March of 2023. She did so after seeing an adult DVD, BROS, on display near the children’s section at the Fincastle Library.  She complained to staff that the cover, which showed two men grasping each other’s bottoms, was inappropriate for children to see. The response was American Library Association talking points about the library’s need to provide “information and enlightenment.” Christine Liana gave a citizen comment at the 1/24/23 Board of Supervisors meeting, demanding that the Board act to remove “perverted” materials from our libraries. There was no response. After that she began talking with parents in her church and elsewhere who were also unhappy with inappropriate, sexually graphic materials available for children in the County libraries.

    Christine Liana met with Botetourt County Library Director Julie Phillips in March to review her formal request to have 60 books and DVDs reviewed to potentially be removed. (more…)

  • Competition for Schools

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Sen. Mark Peake (R-Lynchburg)

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    One of the good bills introduced in the General Assembly this year would bring a measure of competition in public schools. Put in by Sen. Mark Peake (R-Lynchburg), SB 552 would require school districts to allow students to attend any school in the district. Currently, districts are allowed to adopt such open enrollment policies, but are not required to do so. Typically, students must attend the school within the attendance zone where they live.

    The legislation would enable an elementary school student in the eastern part of Henrico County, for example, where the reading scores in schools are very low, to attend an elementary school in the western part of the county, which has schools with high reading scores. If the requests for “nonresident” students to attend a particular school exceed that school’s enrollment capacity, a lottery would be used to decide which nonresident students got to attend that school.

    The legislation directs the State Board of Education to develop model policies and guidelines to implement the legislation. Under the provisions of the legislation as introduced, the Board would have to act quickly. The bill requires the policies and guidelines to be adopted by August 1, 2024, to enable the open enrollment process to be in effect for the next school year, 2024-2025. (more…)

  • Richmond Shoots Itself in the Foot–Again

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Keith Balmer, Richmond City General Registrar, Photo credit: Richmond Free Press

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    It never ceases to amaze me how the City of Richmond seems unable to accomplish even the most basic functions of government right.

    The latest snafu occurred in the office of the General Registrar. A fourth of the voters requesting absentee ballots for the upcoming Democratic presidential primary election received outdated instructions. The instructions, dated 2021, said that absentee voters need to include a witness signature. Legislation enacted by the 2023 General Assembly eliminated that requirement.

    That might be excused as a simple oversight involving a recent change in the statutory requirements. Except, this is the second time that it has happened.  Last fall, some Richmond voters got the same wrong instructions with their absentee ballots.

    General Registrar Keith Balmer blamed the office’s vendor for the mistakes.

    This is simple, basic stuff that should not happen, especially twice within a few months. (more…)

  • “Enacting Racial Change by Design”

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    The backlash against Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in higher-ed and the corporate world may be gathering momentum across the country, but the University of Virginia is rolling out a new DEI initiative oblivious to the shift in the national mood.

    UVA’s College of Arts & Sciences has launched a program this semester entitled, “Enacting Racial Change by Design.” Participating faculty will discuss chapters from the book, From Equity Talk to Equity Walk to deepen understanding of “systematic racial inequity in higher education.” Participants will be able to apply for $1,000 grants to implement DEI-related projects.

    The rhetoric of the memo announcing the initiative is disconnected from the national conversation now underway. The program shows not the slightest inkling that critics of DEI need be acknowledged much less engaged in dialogue. U.S. Supreme Court ruling on race in admissions? Resignation of the presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania? Helloooo? Anyone home?

    This is what happens when an academic elite is captive to DEI dogma and there is not enough diversity of thought for anyone to push back.

    Here follows the memo: (more…)

  • One Surprise on Virginia’s Primary Ballot

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Kerry Dougherty

    I’d almost forgotten that last summer I signed up to be an absentee voter.

    Until this arrived in yesterday’s mail, that is.

    Yep, it’s a Republican primary ballot. Early voting starts Friday for Super Tuesday and Virginia is one of 15 states participating in what promises to be an essentially empty exercise on March 4.

    Trump is building an insurmountable lead and his opponents are bowing out. Nikki Haley didn’t totally embarrass herself last night in New Hampshire, yet she lost by almost 12 points in the state many thought was most friendly to her brand of conservatism.

    Her home state of South Carolina is next. Prospects for her are bleak there. It’s likely there will be a strike-out through her name too by the first week in March..

    But one big question remains: who the heck is Ryan L. Binkley, the second name on Virginia’s GOP ballot? (more…)

  • Whose Rights?

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Joe Fitzgerald

    One thing you have to give the parental rights authoritarians. At least they’re more honest about their goals than some of their thematic ancestors.

    Slave codes were not slave codes. They were master codes. Leftists in the 1950s weren’t involved in unamerican activities. The House committee harassing them was. Dissent and disagreement are supposed to be the American way, except to whatever faction is in charge and defining or redefining what’s American at any given time.

    But parents’ rights, the latest right-wing lie designed to inflame rather than inform, is at least clear about who it’s aimed at. Teacher’s rights? Unless we’re talking about the right to be accused of corrupting and indoctrinating children, that’s not an issue for the rightists. Children’s rights? They have none in the world-view of people like the majority on the Rockingham County School Board. (more…)

  • Two Excellent Nominees Emerge for SCC

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    Kelsey A. Bagot, now nominated for the Virginia State Corporation Commission.

    By Steve Haner

    The new Democratic majority in the Virginia General Assembly is moving rapidly to fill the two State Corporation Commission vacancies with excellent, qualified choices. One is well known in Virginia and the second is new to our hallowed Capitol, but with a decade of energy law experience on the federal level.

    Former Virginia Deputy Attorney General Samuel T. Towell has degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (engineering) and the University of Virginia (law).  Kelsey A. Bagot just got her Harvard Law degree a decade ago, but she had the opportunity at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to work for former SCC Chairman Mark Christie.

    Former Deputy Attorney General Sam Towell, also nominated today.

    Both appeared this afternoon before a brief, perfunctory really, joint meeting of the relevant House and Senate committees. Within a couple of minutes, with only one question asked, both were unanimously certified as qualified. Which they are.

    It will be up to the full House and Senate to formally elect them at some point in the next few days. The two seats they will fill have been vacant for a long time and they will start with desks piled high. Members of the SCC are actually judges, subject to Virginia judicial canons. The pending state budget sets the salaries as of next July 1 at $214,000 for the chair and $212,000 for the other two members. (more…)

Now Available

Book cover of 'Dust Mites: A Second American Revolution' by James A. Bacon, featuring astronauts planting a flag with a blue and white emblem on a lunar landscape, with Earth visible in the background.
For sale on Amazon.com

The year: 2075. The American colonies on the Moon are getting restless under Washington’s tyrannical rule….

This second edition of “Dust Mites” has a snazzy new cover, includes helpful lunar maps, and is 5,000 words tighter than the original. The sequel, “Trogs,” is scheduled for publication this summer.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

About

Bacon’s Rebellion is Virginia’s leading politically non-aligned portal for news, opinions and analysis about state, regional and local public policy. Read more about us here.

Fund the Rebellion

Shake up the status quo! Your contributions will be used to pay for faster download speeds and grow readership. Make a one-time donation by credit card or contribute a small sum monthly.

Can’t wait until tomorrow

For your Bacon’s Rebellion fix?

Enter your email address to receive immediate notifications of new posts by email.

SUBSCRIBE

Search Bacon’s Rebellion

Categories

Archives

The Jefferson Council

Protecting Thomas Jefferson’s Legacy at the University of Virginia

Forgot Your Password?

Shoot me an email and I’ll generate a new password for you.

Latest